LSU, Entergy Partnership Seeks to ‘Power’ Workforce
November 28, 2018
BATON ROUGE, LA – LSU Electrical and Computer Engineering faculty Amin Kargarian and
Mehdi Farasat have obtained a grant from Entergy to develop a program at LSU that
will help train the next generation of the power industry workforce.
As part of the three-year agreement, undergraduate and graduate courses will be developed within the LSU Division of Electrical and Computer Engineering’s Power Engineering program to teach software tools and analysis methods utilized by power companies, particularly Entergy’s transmission operation and planning teams.
Additionally, the grant includes support for graduate assistantships; consultation by Entergy employees to develop lecture material, lab experiments, and manuals; and lectures and lab visits by Entergy representatives.
“We believe that through this program, our graduates will become highly competitive in the job market, as they will be trained with the skills needed by the [power companies],” Farasat said. “This will improve the visibility of our program in the state and nationwide, as well. Further, Entergy engineers will attend the lectures and labs. This will provide an opportunity for our students to connect with them and be recruited as interns or full-time employees.”
While the grant definitely benefits LSU’s ECE program, it also helps Entergy.
Currently, there is a lack of coursework that prepares graduates with the depth of understanding needed to contribute immediately at a company like Entergy. A program designed to equip LSU students with the knowledge and skills required to contribute earlier in their careers would benefit both sides.
“This is an exciting opportunity to partner with LSU and advance our common goal of supporting programs to develop the next generation of engineers,” said Jim Schott, vice president of Entergy transmission. “With our diverse and talented workforce, we look forward to sharing our expertise and knowledge with the LSU team.”
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Contact: Joshua Duplechain
Director of Communications
225-578-5706 (o)